Proving My Birthright
by Hunting For Love
Summary: Jace Anderson isn't supposed to be alive, but he is. He hasnt been claimed yet the gods all hate him, except for one. Jace must prove himself to the gods with a quest. Along the way many things are revealed about his past that even he didn't know. OC
1. I Jace

**Me: Sooo... this is my first fanfic so cut me some slack. The first few chapters are gonna be a little dragging so I apologize. Just going to try to introduce the characters a little bit considering they're OC. But if you guys stick with me through this, I won't disappoint you.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I am not Rick Riordan. I only wish to give his series the honor and respect it rightfully deserves.**

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><p>I walked to my cabin alone after the campfire. I'm officially 17 today, and still not claimed. I mean was really too much to ask to just a floating hologram on top of my head? Or at least give me a sign? I don't even know if my parent is a god or a goddess. Both my parents "died" in a fire and I miraculously survived. Had to live with my aunt and uncle for years till I ran away when I was 7. So now I'm the camp loser just cause my parent is too lazy.<p>

Someone rudely interrupted my thinking by "accidentally" bumping into me. "Oops," they said, their sarcasm showing clearly. He gave me a look full of disdain and disrespect. "Heard you didn't get claimed today. Haha. Even your parents don't want you." I was so close to hitting him.

You see, whenever I get mad, my eyes start to water in anger. "Awww, is someone gonna cry."

"Piss off Mason," I gave him my well-practiced death-stare.

"You gonna go run to that whore of an aunt and your drunkard uncle?" He and his friends started laughing. The anger management class I took said to take deep breaths and count to ten. Too bad I don't always listen to them. There was a red tint around my eyes. Their laughter quickly subsided when my fist collided with Mason's face.

He fell to the ground, clutching his jaw. Mason looked at his friends and yelled, "Well? Do something you idiots!" There was now a small crowd forming. I wasn't really in the mood for a fight, but I figured I needed to blow off some steam so I got ready. Mason got up and got into a fighting stance. "Come on! Fight me! Coward!" and a whole bunch of other stupid insults.

I was raised in a place where you had to know how to defend yourself otherwise you'd get murdered in the middle of the night, so I knew how to defend my self when I had to. A groan came from the crowd. "By the gods, can't you last five seconds without getting into a fight?" The question was directed towards Mason. The small crowd parted down the middle to reveal a tall guy wearing a white v-neck and black jeans, Alexander White. A kid of Athena. He'd been here almost as long as I had so I guess we were pretty close.

"This isn't your fight," Mason growled.

"Yes it is. I am your cabin counselor. So therefore this is my problem." I shook my head. Mason was pretty stupid for a son of Athena. "You're giving our cabin a bad name."

Mason huffed, "Whatever. Let's go boys." The crowd dispersed, leaving Alexander and me alone. He wasn't really a big, muscular guy, but he gave off an aura of respect. Like most Athena's kids he had blonde hair. So blonde that it was almost white. His steel, grey eyes stared at me. I felt like he was staring into my soul. Most of the girls at camp drooled over him. I still don't know why he hangs out with me. We're complete opposites.

He had blonde hair whereas I had auburn hair. He had grey eyes and I had dark ambreyes. He has a pale complexion and I have a tan. I have a British accent and he.. didn't really have one. You get the idea. All the girls drooled over him. I'm just the sidekick in the back.

"You okay kid?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Just because you're a couple months older doesn't give you the right to call me kid, Alex."

He laughed. "Of course it does."

"Imma go to sleep now. Night," I walked away.

I heard him yell at me, "Sorry you weren't claimed!" Ugh. Shut up. Did he really have to announce that to the world?

On the way to the Hermes cabin, I passed by the fire. There was this girl poking it with a stick. She looked kinda lonely so I sat by her. "Hello. May I sit here?"

She looked at me and I stepped back. Her eyes had this fire in them, but not the "I'm-fire-and-im-so-awesome-cause-I-can-burn-you". It was more the "welcome-home-sit-by-the-fire-and-warm-up". I was too busy staring at her eyes that I didn't realize she asked me something.

"I'm sorry?" I asked her.

"Your name. Jace Anderson, am I correct?" she inquired.

"Y-yes ma'am." I said awkwardly. Even though she looked really young, she gave off an aura of power. She glared at me in a way that said "you-shouldn't-be-alive-but-you-are".

"Of course…" she mumbled.

A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped slightly. It was Chiron. "Jace. You ought to be in bed. It's past curfew and I don't want you to be eaten by the harpies now. Off you go." I bowed awkwardly to both of them and left them. But not after I noticed that they were staring intensely into each other's eyes. They were having some sort of silent conversation.

I slowly walked to the Hermes Cabin. There was the cabin counselor Gabe and some other kids playing poker in the far corner of the room. The others were either watching tv of planning pranks and trying to outdo each other. As usual they paid no attention to me. I walked to my room. I get my own room cause they know that I'm not a Hermes kid. There was this one time… Well that's another story.

Hopefully I could get some sleep. I threw on some shorts and took off my shirt. There was a huge scar running from the middle of my right side dragging on to the bottom of my left hip. I survived a year before I made it to camp and I met a lot of monsters along the way. Everyone was surprised that I was still alive. I jumped onto my bed and hoped for a good night's rest. Boy was I wrong.

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><p><em>I was in the middle of a forest still wearing what I wore to sleep. It was freezing, but I'd been in this situation before. There was rustling behind me. I turned around and came face to face with an antelope. Freaked out for nothing… All of a sudden it started talking.<em>

"_Brace yourself young one." And with that my dream changed._

_I was now watching a girl about my age running through the forest. She looked like she'd been through Hades. There were branches and leaves stuck in her dark black hair. Here electric blue eyes looked around frantically. She was wearing slivery clothing and had a tiara on her head. She tripped on a root and twisted her ankle. Then a sharp cry of pain came out of her mouth when she tried to move it. She looked right at me and I realized that she couldn't see me._

_There was this ominous laugh coming from behind me. "You think that they'll send someone to save you? Your mistress is nowhere to be found and we're all alone."I couldn't see him as he was hiding in the shadows of the trees._

_She growled at him, "Fuck off."_

_He laughed again, but abruptly stopped. I still couldn't see him. He walked out of the shadows and I wished I couldn't see him again. He had one blue eye and one brown eye. A tail whipped from behind him. This was the manticore. "Someone is here," he growled._

_The girl's head shot up. The manticore was kept sniffing the air and focused more on finding me than eating her. Or doing whatever he was planning to do with her. The point was, he was distracted. I got closer trying to give him more of my scent, which was probably a bad idea, but it helped the girl get her foot out of the root. She started running again which got the manticore's attention._

_He moved at an incredible speed and all I could do was ram into him. He focused on me now. At least the girl was able to get away. He picked my up, claws digging into my shoulder. I yelled out in pain. "You smell quite… peculiar."_

_I kicked him in the stomach and ran away. But he still had my scent. I gripped my bleeding shoulder. The fact that I was bleeding everywhere didn't really help with my trying to runn away. He quickly caught up to me and rammed me to the side. I found I was at the edge of a cliff, cornered. He looked at me like a predator looks at his prey._

"_Well well well. Looks like this is the end for you." He grinned evilly showing off his long, sharp teeth. The tail swished back and forth behind him, getting ready to shoot at me. I thought he was bluffing, but I soon found out he wasn't. A thorn lodged itself into the shoulder in which he had clawed at me earlier.__The rim of my eyes turned red from all the pain. I couldn't even begin to describe the pain. A few more thorns lodged into the same spot, pushing each other through the hole. I fell off the cliff, hitting multiple branches and rocks along the way. I blacked out…_


	2. II Thalia

**So I got my first review today, and it was a good one! Haha so thank you to smile456smile for making my day. ^.^. I will try to post new chapters every other day.**

**Disclaimer: Soe of my characters and my own plot line. Without Mr. Rick Riordan, I wouldn't even be here writing this story. **

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><p><em>Finally, <em>I thought to myself. _Some peace and qui-. _There was a scratching noise outside my tent. I frowned. _Now what could it be? _

"Lady Artemis has summoned you," the voice was strong and rough. I knew instantly it was Phoebe. She may look all sweet and petite, but in reality she could rip your arms out of their sockets.

"I'm on my way. Is it chilly out?" I asked her.

"Come outside and find out yourself. I'm going to bed," she replied sleepily. I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the help Phoebe!" I yelled before she could leave. I heard a laugh.

"My pleasure," she joked. Even if it wasn't winter, it could still be cold out. We go hunting in the weirdest places, for the weirdest animals. I'm not complaining or anything, I love it and all, but sometimes I wish we could just sit down and take a break.

Lady Artemis' tent was just across from mine so I got there in a few long strides. "M'lady, you called?" I said from outside the tent. There was no answer so I waited a while. After I few minutes, there was still no reply so I just walked in. I know, that was stupid considering she could've turned into her immortal form at that moment, but I was freezing my ass off outside.

There was a note in the middle of the tent.

_My Lieutenant,_

_ I need your assistance with a very important, secret plan that Zeus has made. Go deep into the forest. Stop when you see a piece of silver clothe tied to a tree branch. Come alone. No one must know about this._

_ Lady Artemis_

It seemed kinda suspicious to me, but who am I to question a goddess? I trusted Lady Artemis so I went into the forest with no weapon. I mean, it wasn't like she was going to attack me or something right?

I followed the instructions and started walking deep into the forest. In the distance I could already see the silver cloth that she was talking about. There was a rustling noise behind me. I turned around quickly and found myself face to face with… a squirrel. I almost laughed at my paranoia.

Once I made it to the silver cloth, I waited for Lady Artemis. A few times I thought that I saw a dark, shadowy figure lurking about. It was probably just my ADHD, the fact that I couldn't stay still for more than a couple minutes.

I heard footsteps behind me and relaxed. "Finally," I said to her. "I feel like I've been waiting here for a millennia." Usually she would laugh. I was the jokester of the group. In other words, I didn't have a stick wedged up my ass like the rest do.

"Mmmm. Then maybe you'll have to wait a few more." My face paled. The voice was low and scratchy. I turned around, but I wasn't fast enough. I fell on the ground, landing on a sharp rock that hit the small of my back. A sharp cry of pain came out of my mouth. The place we camped was too far away. I doubt anyone heard me. "Shhh…" the figure cooed. "We wouldn't want anyone to hear you, now would we?"

"Who are you?" I said through gritted teeth. Out of the shadows came one of the most ridiculous looking monsters I've faced. "Remember me?" It grinned evilly. "I seem to recall that the last time we saw each other was decades ago, when I was tempting you to kill the Ophiotaurus. Luke Castellan was Kronos' pawn. I heard he died a hero. Ahh, good times." At the sound of Luke's name I winced a little. Apparently it wasn't a little. The manticore had an amused look on its face. "Still have some feelings for your old flame?"

I slowly got up and brushed the leaves and branches off of me, trying to make it look like I wasn't affected by his attempts to piss me off, when in reality I was about to rip his head off. Probably failed at that. "You know what I seem to recall?" I asked it, trying hard not to smile at my reply.

"And what would that be?" he looked intrigued.

"We kicked your ass," I smiled sweetly at it as the smile faded from its face. It bared its teeth at me.

"Why you little-" it began.

"Well I loved our little conversation, but I have a meeting to attend soo…" I said calmly while backing up slowly.

"With Lady Artemis I presume?" My smiled vanished.

"What did you do to her?" I demanded.

It's smile returned. "Oh nothing." We started circling around each other. With each step I could almost hear my ankle yell at me, "Stop with all the moving! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Why should I believe you?" I was so close to exploding now.

"Because I wrote that note to you. I saw Lady Artemis go for a walk and I took the opportunity. I wrote and note telling you to come right to the exact location. That way, when I rip you to pieces limb by limb, no one will come to help you," Well that was my cue.

I threw a rock that I had been keeping behind my back straight at his face. It hit its mark and cut it's eye. That was my chance. I started running like crazy. I cursed at myself for not bringing my weapons with me. Here I am being chased by one of the fastest monsters, weaponless.

_Whack! Snap! Whack! _That was the sound of my face being hit by multiple branches. Stupid trees. My foot got caught on this random root sticking out of the ground and I tripped and fell. I could hear it coming closer so I tried to get my foot out of the root. A fiery pain struck my ankle and I yelped out in pain. It was twisted and I was stuck. I might as well been served to him on a dinner plate.

A laugh came out of the trees. "You thinkthat they'll send someone to save you? Your mistress is nowhere to be found and we're all alone."

I growled at him. "Fuck off." I heard him laugh again, but abruptly stop. It started sniffing the air, as if something was there. Main point is, it was distracted. I slowly got my foot out of the root. Once I got it out, the manticore was still sniffing the air, back now faced at me. I ran as fast as I could the other direction. I knew that my camp was the other way, but it didn't matter. I had to get out of here first.

At first I expected him to follow me, but then I heard something ram into him. Whatever it was, apparently it was more important.

As soon as I got far enough, I stopped and found a good hiding place. I needed to rest. Once the sun rose, the Hunters would be on the move again and I couldn't catch up with these injuries. There was only one place to go. Camp Half Blood.

Oh how I missed Camp Half Blood. I hadn't been there in 10 years. I bet a bunch had changed. Percy and Annabeth had already passed away. I met their kid like twice. He seemed nice. I guess. I smiled at the memory of my friends. The voice of the manticore popped inside my head. _Luke Castellan was Kronos' pawn. I heard he died a hero… Still have feelings for your old flame?_ Luke and I were never together. We could've been though. I have to admit; I liked him at one point, what with all the slaying monsters together and protecting little Annie. It didn't really get to the point where we could've been together considering I turned into a tree and when I turned human again, he was kinda trying to end the world. Other than that I bet we would've ended up together.

Another thought occurred to me. Where was Lady Artemis? The manticore didn't have enough power to defeat her, so where was she? According to the manticore she was "taking a walk". Wonder what that meant. I fell asleep worrying about Lady Artemis and at the same time, reminiscing about the good old days with Percy and Annabeth.

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><p><strong>Please leave a review to tell me how I'm doing and if there's any suggestions you guys have, please feel free to state them. :)<strong>


	3. III Jace

**This is kinda late. Sorry for anyone who's reading this, I kinda had a little writers block so I apologize greatly.**

**DISCLAIMER: Some of the characters belong to a Mr. Rick Riordan. Plot is mine though as you can tell.**

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><p>My eyes shot open and I sat up, wincing in pain. My shoulder felt like hades. Now I discovered, along with many other scars, there was a scar that looked like a hole that was filled up again. That's impossible. I was just a dream right?<p>

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud from outside my door. I quickly threw on a shirt and opened the door to find Kyle. He was about 8 years old and looked at me like I was some sort of hero. One of the only Hermes kids that hasn't pranked me yet.

"Time to eat," he grinned at me. I noticed there was a tooth missing.

"Hey Kyle... There's something you ddnt tell me..." I made my voice have a hint of anger in it

His smile faded. "Really?... What?"

I broke out in a grin and threw him over my shoulder. It took all my might not to yell out in pain, but it was worth it to make Kyle smile. "You lost your last baby tooth man! That's a big step" he starte giggling like crazy.

"Put me down!" we both laughed as I put him down. I bent over so I was about his height.

"Alright little man. Tonight we are going to celebrate you becoming a man"

He smiled that toothless grin and I smiled back. I ruffled his hair. "C'mon kiddo. All the good food's gonna be taken"

"Alright. I'll save you a seat."

"Good man." Once he was out of sight I bit my lip to prevent from screaming. That was just stupid of me. But if I didn't notice, he'd be sad for weeks. I was the only person who ever actually acknowledged his existence at camp.

Today was the day that I arrived at camp 10 years ago. For some reason I felt something big was gonna happen today.

I walked over to the pavilion. Everyone was already sitting down eating. And I was right. All the good food was taken. The whole camp was buzzing with news apparently. As I passed tables, I heard piece of conversations.

"Party today"

"Chiron out of town"

"Gimme the stuff (referring to a can of Coke)"

"Jace!" Took me a while to process that someone was calling my name. Alex came up to my table as I sat down. "You hear?"

"Yes I am capable of hearing" He gave me a look and I laughed. "About what?"

"Party tonight. Chiron and Mr. D are out of town. They left the harpies in charge. You going?" I thought about it for a while. I didn't really like going to parties. No one even knew I was there most of the time and I would just stand in a corner awkwardly.

"Ummm… Do I have a choice?"

"No you don't." a girl's voice said from behind me. Alex started blushing and avoiding eye contact so I knew who it was.

"Hey Katie." I turned around and there she was. Katie was a daughter of Aphrodite so naturally she was gorgeous. But I didn't like her that way. We tried going out once. Didn't work out. At all. So we just stayed friends. She came the same year as Alex. We were the three amigos. Along the way I figured out Alex liked her. I teased him for weeks about it.

"Hey Jace," she hugged me. "Hey Alex," she said awkwardly. I raised my eyebrow at her and she blushed. I took a huge bite of my food and the blush faded and was replaced by a look of disgust.

"Why must boys stuff so much food into their mouth?" Alex and I burst out laughing. We really didn't know why.

"Why do girls take bites that are so little?"

"Because we weren't raised on a farm."

"You're right. Most of us were raised at camp" I corrected. She rolled her eyes at me.

"So um are you going to the party?" Alex asked Katie shyly. He rubbed the back of his neck.

Katie blushed. And Alex blush in return. I rolled my eyes at the both of them. "Do you both have a blushing problem? Like seriously. Chillax." I joked. Of course this just made them blush more. Alex glared at me. Or at least tried. Didn't really look that scary whilst blushing.

"Yeaa. Why Alex?" She smiled and I saw hope in her eyes. It was so obvious that she liked him back and the whole camp knew it. Except, obviously, them.

"Ask her out," I whispered so only he could hear.

"Oh umm," I nudged him in the side with my elbow and raised my eyebrows. "No reason."

Her smile slowly faded. "Oh. That's cool,"

Mason came up to our table. "Hey losers," talking to Alex and me. "What up sexy?" referring to Katie.

I saw a flicker of movement next to me and stood up in front of Alex as fast as I could. Only thing I could do to keep Alex from sending Mason to the infirmary.

"What now Mason?" Katie folded her arms, an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

He slowly started getting closer to her and I could see the steam coming out of Alex's ears. I faced Alex. "Dude, relax. It's not like he's going to ask her to the party,"

As I said this I heard Mason ask, "How'd you like to be my date to the party?" his southern accent coming out slightly.

"You were saying?" Alex said. Damn. He looked pissed. As much as I wanted to laugh, if I didn't stop Alex, there would be a bloodbath.

"Well its not like she's gonna say yes" I shot back at him. And guess what?

Katie did the unexpected. The annoyed look disappeared from her face and was replaced with a smile so fake you'd have to be stupid, or very pissed of as Alex is now, to believe that it was real.

Mason grinned. "Great!" he exclaimed. See what I said? Stupid. "Pick you up at 6?"

She twirled a strand of her hair on her finger. "Sure," she winked at him.

By this point, all the blood rushed to Alex's head and he looked like he was about to explode. I'm surprised he didn't. I didn't even notice, but my jaw was down.

Katie put her hand on my chin and shut my jaw. "You're gonna catch flies," she joked. A noise came from Alex's mouth that was a mixture of disbelief, anger, and sadness. She faced him. "Problem?"

"ASDFGHJKL." He stomped away. Katie turned back to me. I shook my head in disappointment.

"What I do?" she asked.

"Oh cut the crap Katie. I know you like him." I said while picking up my drink. "Mtn Dew Voltage please," I said to the cup.

Her face paled. But she quickly returned to her "I'm not scared of anything mask". "What are you talking about?"

"Ha. I see the way you look at each other when the other isn't looking. Everyone in the camp knows," I laughed at how oblivious they both were.

"Whatever Jace Anderson," she rolled her eyes and walked away.

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><p>So I was right about the party. Everyone was having a great time with his or her dates, except me. Even Alex was able to get a date on such short notice. He asked a girl like 5 mins before the party started, and guess who it was? Casey, another daughter of Aphrodite whom Katie hated with a passion.<p>

Of course I'm just in the corner. I didn't wanna touch any of the drinks considering I just saw Mr.D's kids near them a whole ago. Before I drank it, I only did the natural thing to do. I sniffed it. And I could tell right away that they spiked it. I would've been fine with it before, but one day I had a huge hangover and was half naked in the middle of the camp. So no thank you.

Everyone else, on the other hand, don't seem to mind at all what would happen to them the morning after and just drank the night away.

"H-H-Hey Jaaaace," Alex slurred. "My best bud right here!" he pointed to me and started laughing. Behind Alex, I could see Katie glaring at him like crazy. I'm surprised there wasn't a hole in the back of his head yet. I rolled my eyes at Alex. He wasn't usually one to get drunk. He came over to me and I almost gagged. Alex reeked of alcohol mixed in with Kasey's perfume.

"You're drunk," I told him.

"No I'm not," he said as he tripped on his own foot. I held him up to prevent him from falling.

"Bye," I walked away before he could bring me back. Even though I didn't drink at all, my mind was foggy. For some reason I had a strong urge to go to the big tree. I heard that it was once a daughter of Zeus.

I looked up and saw a figure in the distance, slowly coming towards me. They looked like they were limping. Behind them was a figure that towered over them and was getting closer to them very fast. Neither of them notices me. I had to do something... What do I do? What do I do? I couldn't yell for help because it would get the monster's attention. Plus everyone was at the party.

Okay, I thought to myself, breathe and think. There was a heavy feeling in my pocket. It was my Swiss pocketknife. Probably wouldn't scratch the monster, but the least it could do was shock them. The shadowy figure was nearing the person and I didn't know where to aim. Surprisingly, it hit it right between the eyes. The monster roared and for some reason it sounded familiar. I didn't have time to think about it now.

As the person got nearer, I realized that it was a girl. My brain hurt. Why did she look so familiar? She had something stuck in her left side and was bleeding immensely. I quickly set aside my thought and focused on helping her. My hand went to her side and she winced in pain. Her ankle was twisted too.

"Get off me boy," she said, her voice full of despise.

"I'm trying to help you," I shot back. "Now c'mon. Before he comes back to his senses." This got her to cooperate… Somewhat. She leaned against me and we both attempted to hobble to the top. We were going too slowly, so I did the only thing I could.

I picked her up, threw her on my back, and ran to the big tree. Even though I was only trying to help her, she still struggled and hit me on my back repeatedly. What the hell was wrong with this girl? I'm just trying to help her. When we got to the tree, I put her down to prevent from breaking my back. It's not that she was heavy or anything; it was the fact that she was very very strong.

The monster stood outside of the border. Once I got a good look at it, I froze. 'Twas the manticore. Yes, I just said 'twas. Don't judge! Well anyways, back to the story. Where was I? I froze. It didn't seem to recognize me yet, seeing as when I encountered it the firs time, it was about 2 in the morning and pitch black. It had that same sneering face that would make anyone take a crap in his or her pants.

There was a voice trying to get my attention but for some reason I couldn't move. I felt a sharp sting on the back of my head. My hand shot up to the throbbing in my head. There was something sticky and gooey on my head. A red liquid dripped down my arm. I was bleeding. But from what? I saw a rock near my foot. That girl that I had just saved had thrown a rock at me.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled at her. Big mistake. The manticore quickly focused onto our location. It sniffed the air and its eyes grew as big as saucers.

"You idiot! Now he knows where we are!" she shot back.

"Well it's not my fault! You're the one who threw a frickin' rock at my head!" I know it wasn't really the time to be arguing, but I just couldn't help myself. She glared at me with this cold stare. Ugh. I was suddenly regretting saving her.

There was a rough cough behind us. In his raspy voice he said, "Excuse me, if you're done with your little lovers spat, I would like to eat you now."

We both ignored the fact that he was about to eat us and said at the same time, "We are not lovers!" My face reddened and I saw hers did too. It rolled its eyes.

"Besides, you can't even get past the boundary line so HA! " She stuck her tongue out at him. He quickly proved us wrong by stepping right over said boundary.

"Umm… Time to run?" I whispered loudly to her.

"I can't really run right now dumbass," she said through gritted teeth.

I smirked at her. "I have a solution for that," I had to stop myself from laughing. Before she could protest, I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder again. Like before, there was more kicking and hitting. But this time, there was a manticore right behind us so I was completely oblivious to the pain. Damn. This girl had a very colorful vocabulary.

I figured everyone was still at the party so I led the manticore there. At least there was backup. Drunk backup, but still. Backup. As we neared the party you could feel the beat of the music on the ground. My legs started to feel like jelly.

_Just a few more feet, _I thought to myself. By the time I got there, half the people were passed out of half naked. Oh what has happened to the teenagers of today? There was a loud roar from behind me and the music stopped. Everyone turned around and when they saw the manticore they came to their senses. Well… some of them.

I put the girl down and pulled an Apollo kid by the shirt. "There's a manticore behind me," His eyes widened.

"Archers at the ready!" he yelled. All of a sudden, about 20 kids popped out these arrows from nowhere. Probably their father's blessing. I felt a pang of jealousy and frowned. I had no idea who my parent was. I was probably too much of a disgrace for them to claim. My thoughts were interrupted when I realized I was in the line of fire. I turned around and found myself in the claws of the manticore. He put his hand on my neck. I could feel the sharp edges of his claws digging into my neck. For the second time today I felt a sticky liquid drip down.

The manticore laughed evilly like one of those old cartoons. "Mwhahahaha. You won't shoot now will you?" A voice came to my right.

"Think again," I felt an arrow cut the back of my neck. It wasn't deep though. The monster dissolved into dust and got all over me. I looked over to my right side. There was the girl holding a bow that she must've found laying around.

Even though she basically just saved my ass from being killed, I was still pretty pissed. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I yelled at her.

"Well excuse me if I just saved your life!" she yelled back.

"But you could've killed me!"

"But I didn't!"

"You could've! Just because I'm basically a worthless piece of nothing doesn't mean you get to put my life at stake! If it wasn't for me you would've been eaten by now so I at least deserve a thank you!" I didn't even notice till we were almost nose-to-nose but we were slowly inching towards each other throughout this dispute.

"What is going on here?" yelled Chiron. Oh shit. It was probably time for me to stop yelling but everything was just starting to get to me and I was frickin' tired of trying keep it all in.

"STOP ACTING LIKE YOU CARE. I KNOW YOU DON'T SO JUST STOP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" I stomped off to my cabin and slammed the door, leaving the rest of the camp dumbfounded. I ripped up my shirt in anger. My old duffel bag was still in the corner of my room. I started packing. I had a little dispute with myself while packing, which kinda went like this.

_ Where are you supposed to go?_

_ I don't give a damn. I could die for all I care._

_ You can't do this. Not after all you've been through. _

_ No one cares. It doesn't even matter anymore._

_ If you do this, you're just proving them right._

_ What the hell are you going on about now?_

_ If you leave, you're just proving to everyone that they were right. You're just a worthless piece of trash that's not good for anything._

This made me stop and think. _Ugh, _I thought. _I have a point._ I stopped packing and flopped onto my bed. Out of habit my hand ran through my hair. Guess I should do that breathing exercise thingy now. _Breathe. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. _It helped a little bit… Kinda. By the time I finished, there was a knock on my door.

I put on a sleeveless top. "Come in," I said quietly. In came the girl that I "saved" a while ago. I sat up. She stood there awkwardly and tried not to make eye contact. I was trying to do the same thing. There was an awkward silence for about two minutes. She broke it by saying,

","well at least that's what it sounded like because she was mumbling. I bet she was one of those people who hated apologizing. I watched her with a new interest. She looked kinda cute doing it. Wait, what am I thinking? She'd never fall for a guy like me. I looked away sadly. She probably thought it was cause I didn't understand her so she said it again. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," She still partially mumbled it, but I got her this time.

"No I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I never should've yelled at you like that. It was ungentlemanly" Just like her I hated apologizing too so it came out as a mumble. "I don't even know you. Bet I made one hell of a first impression."

She scoffed and I looked up. "It's not your fault." I smiled warmly at her. To my surprise, she smiled back.

I stood up and held up my hand for her to shake. "Jace Anderson," she took it and introduced herself.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus," I whistled impressed.

"THE Thalia Grace?" She laughed.

"Yes THE Thalia Grace," My hands felt sweaty and I realized we were still holding hands. I quickly pulled away and looked down. Hopefully she didn't see my sudden blush, but with my luck she probably did. I tilted my head up a little and noticed she looked flushed too.

"You look cute when you blush," I blurted. Her head shot up and she blushed even more. With one swift movement she had my face up against the wall and my arm behind my back. I felt her warm breath on the back of my neck.

"Back off. Hunter of Artemis," she stated. She let go and I rubbed the back of my neck, which I usually do only when I'm really nervous.

"Damn," I mumbled.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh nothing," I said quickly. "Sorry. I'll back off." She looked at me as if I just came through the roof. "What? There something on my face?" I raised my hand to my face.

"No. It's nothing. Usually guys would keep coming after girls. But you're not. Just shocked me."

"Ahh. Okay. Well you should get some rest. You probably had a rough time getting here,"

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Okay," she walked out the door. "By the way, thanks for saving me. And sorry about the cut on your neck."

"Oh it's nothing. I've been through worse,"

"Haha okay. Night" She shut my door. I grinned and felt like I couldn't stop. I proved my self wrong.

I focused on her. Her electric blue eyes, dark spiky hair. The way when I first saw her she had branches in her hair. The way she was dressed. Silvery clothing. When she came here her ankle was sprained. It all seemed so familiar. My head throbbed. Ugh too much thinking. I took of my shirt and got into my warm, comfy bed hoping to get a good night's rest.

My eyes shot open and I realized where she was from. She was the girl from my dreams! My heart raced in my chest. Should I tell her now? I was about to get up when my brain shut down. I huffed. _Fine. I'll sleep, but I'm talking to her first thing in the morning. _


	4. Getting To Know Each Other

**I'm so very sorry about never getting to update on this story. I had a whole bunch of chapters prepared, but my laptop was attacked by the Trojans. So imma just try something new. Who knows, maybe I'll like using the third person perspective. It'll just be a couple chapters though. Some will still be individual perspectives though such as flashbacks and stuff. I'm also gonna try and make them longer. So now that that's out of the way, onto the story!**

**DISCLAIMER: Based off of Mr. Rick Riordan's series.**

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><p>Thalia headed for her cabin. It had been a while since she had been to camp, but she still remembered where everything was. She decided to take a detour and just walk around the whole camp. <em>Chiron won't mind, <em>she thought. She walked over to the Dining Pavilion, which was now clean considering right after Jace had stormed off, Chiron and Mr. D popped out of nowhere.

Jace was different than other guys. It's not like she liked him that way or anything, but she knew that he was like Percy. Maybe Lady Artemis might have approved of him. When she looked into any other guys' eyes, she would see lust and perverseness. When she looked into Jace's eyes she saw a broken guy. A guy who'd been through a lot and was still trying to stay strong, but was so close to breaking at the same time. _Just like me._

Thalia was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice where she was. Out of habit, she had wandered to a grey cabin with very familiar white curtains. She had walked all the way to Athena's Cabin. Usually, right when she arrived at camp, she would head straight to greet Annabeth and along with Annabeth was usually Percy.

An aching feeling spread through Thalia's heart. She hadn't even realized how much she missed them. I mean sure, she'd mourned for about a day, but she had to focus or the Hunt would leave her behind. Tears formed in Thalia's eyes. She blinked them away and kept walking.

She walked to her the hill where her tree used to be, and where the Golden Fleece now lays. There was Peleus wide awake and guarding the Fleece.

"Hey buddy," Thalia said as she pet his head. "How you been?"

Peleus snorted at her as if to say that things were okay. Thalia still vividly remembered how she had turned from a tree back into a person.

* * *

><p>Thalia Tree POV<p>

I watched as Annabeth sat down next to my trunk. She had been crying all night while guarding me. Over and over again she kept on saying, "Please don't leave me." My heart ached. My branches stretched out to her, longing to capture my little sister in my arms and tell her that I'm not going anywhere.

The Golden Fleece was working and I kept getting stronger by the minute. Before Clarisse had arrived with the Fleece, I could feel my soul leaving the tree. I could see Hades reaching out to grab me. Once they put the Fleece on me, I felt a rush of energy flow through me.

Ever since then, I've been feeling better than I had in years. Right now, I could almost feel human again. There was a little rustling from afar. Annabeth quickly got up and took out her knife. The knife Luke had given her when she was still a little girl.

"One sec Thalia. Lemme go check this out. Be right back." She walked away from me. There was a hot burn throughout my whole body. All of a sudden, I felt different. It didn't feel like I was a tree anymore. I felt human. I WAS human. I could still feel the pain throughout my body when all those monsters attacked me, the day my father turned me into a tree.

I could hear Annabeth's muffled scream. I guess my ears were still adjusting? I wanted to open my eyes, but couldn't. The pain was too much. There was rustling all around me. Annabeth was on watch and they probably thought she was being attacked or something. I heard hooves. It must've been Chiron. No one did anything. For a second, there was only silence. Then there was one person who ran towards me. Their presence seemed somewhat familiar.

Whoever they were, they put their hand on my forehead. "She needs nectar and ambrosia," a boy's voice said. He sounded somewhere around 13 years old. In the distance I could hear Annabeth crying. He took my by my shoulders and put me in a sitting position, and let me tell you, it hurt like hell. No one responded to his request. "Come on!" he yelled again. "What's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House."

The Big House. That's where we were headed, but I never made it. I tried to open my eyes, desperate to see the Big House, and Annabeth, hell I'd be happy to see anyone I knew. I took a shaky breath and opened my eyes. The breath ended up turned into a cough.

"Who-" I began to ask, but couldn't form the whole sentence. My eyes adjusted to the dark. Holding me steady was a boy with jet dark black hair and friendly sea green eyes.

"I'm Percy," he said. "You're safe now." For some odd reason, I believed him. The last guy I believed was Luke, and we all know how that's going...

"Strangest dream.." I said, trying to form a sentence.

"It's okay."

I shook my head, which sent a fire of burning pain. "Dying," I muttered.

"No," he shook his head in reply. "You're okay. What's your name?" Who was this that he didn't know who I was? I mean I'm only one of the only children of the Big Three. I stared into his eyes to see if he was serious. Apparently he was.

"I am Thalia," I said clearly. "Daughter of Zeus." His face was priceless, yet it a hint of relief spread across his face. I finally had control of my body again and was able to sit up by myself. He noticed that he was still holding me by the shoulders and blushed. Really? Leave it to a guy to make things awkward.  
>I raised my eyebrows at him. "You planning on telling me who you are?"<p>

"Oh uhh yea. Sorry," he stuck his hand out. "I'm Percy. Son of Poseidon."

It dawned on me that he did somewhat resemble Uncle Poseidon. It also dawned on me that we could either be best friends, or mortal enemies. I mean, our dads were the two most powerful gods. Well my dad is more powerful, but let's not get into that argument or I'll be going on forever.

I took his hand in mine and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I guess,"

"Yeah," he smiled goofily at me and I thought to myself, _Maybe we could get along._

I looked around and saw the beauty of camp, my home. The sun was just rising and campers were starting to come out of their cabins, wondering what all the commotion was about. To the right of me was none other than the two of the last people I had seen before I turned into a tree. There was Grover, his mouth agape, and Annabeth with tears streaming down her face and her hand over her mouth. Chiron was towering over them looking at me like I would be an issue eventually, but look went away soon after he realized I noticed it.

I wanted to go over to Annabeth, seeing as she was too much in shock to come over to me, so I tried to get up. First try, my legs felt like jelly and Percy caught me before I fell over completely. Second time wasn't that bad I was adjusting to the feeling of actually having legs again. Gods, it felt amazing. Annabeth and Grover were about a few feet away, so it took a lot of my energy. But it was worth it. About halfway, Percy slowly let go of me and I started walking by myself. in every single step I felt a new strength surging in me, and by the time I made it to Annabeth, I was actually walking like a normal person.

First I looked at Grover. I reached out and shut his mouth. "Shut your mouth Goat Boy. You'll catch flies." he chuckled awkwardly.

"Listen Thalia-" I knew he was about to apologize and go on and on, so I stopped him.

"It's okay Goat Boy," His eyes teared up. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh my gods Grover. Don't get all emotional on me."

"Yea yea," he stuttered, wiping away his newly formed tears hastily.

I turned over to Annabeth. The tears had slowed down a little, but the were still going pretty fast. "Hey," I said to her.

"Hi," she croaked out. Then she ran over and engulfed me in this huge hug. It took me a while to come back to my senses considering she almost squeezed the life out of me, but when I did, I hugged her like there was no tomorrow. It all felt so surreal. I didn't want to let go. I mean, what if this wasn't really happening? What if I was just dreaming? My heart couldn't take any more pain.

I soon realized that I, too, was crying. We just stood there for a while trying to grasp that this was really happening. I was actually back. When we finally let go, we both wiped our tears away. She grinned like crazy and grabbed my hand. "C'mon," she said excitedly.

"Where are we going?" I asked stupidly.

She stared at me blankly. "I'm going to show you around camp?"

"Ohhhh," I said. She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well I'm sorry I'm not a Wise Girl like you are." I stuck my tongue out her.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched. Guess my body was still in battle mode or something because I took the hand and flipped the person and they landed on their back. "Ouch," mumbled Percy. I stifled a laugh and looked over at Annabeth. She was biting her lip in an effort to stop the laughing. We both failed and started bursting out in laughter. Percy turned beet red and pouted. I offered him my hand and helped him up. Annabeth came over and punched his shoulder.

"Get over it Seaweed Brain." He stuck his bottom lip out and stomped his feet.

"Not fair," he whined.

"Well, life's not fair."

Annabeth grabbed my arm and dragged me away. I noticed how she was slightly blushing around Percy. I looked back at Percy, and he too, was blushing. He stared at Annabeth until he noticed me looking at him. Then he awkwardly looked away. Well, it wasn't that hard to put two and two together so once we were out of hearing distance, "Oh my gods!" I yelled at her.

Her eyes widened and she looked at me like I was crazy. "What?" I started smirking like crazy.

"Nothing."

"Ugh Thals. You know I hate when people do that."

"Exactly."

"Tell meeeee."

"No thanks."

"Nope."

"Please?"

"Hmmm..." I pretended to think about it. "No!"

"Ugh!" She prepared to stomp away. I started laughing like crazy. People started looking at me weirdly. "You think this is funny Thalia Grace?" I winced at my surname.

"Gods Annabeth. Could you be any louder? What if somebody heard?" I hissed.

She smirked. "HEY EVERYBODY. THALIA'S LAST NAME IS GR-"

"FINE! I'll tell you."

"I'm waiting," She crossed her hands and leaned on her hip. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Fine." I got closer to her and whispered, "You like him don't you?"

Her eyes widened and she blushed. "Pfffft," she laughed and blushed even more, "What would make you think I liked Percy?"

I raised my eyebrow and smiled in triumph. "Who said anything about Percy?" Her face was priceless. "Thalia-1, Annabeth-0." She glared at me.

"I'll get you back for this Grace."

I made a scared face. "Ooooh. Last names. So threatening. Annabeth Chase is out to get me! Whatever shall I do?" I know people usually see me as the tough girl who strong, fearless, and always cranky, but it was different with Annabeth. She was my little sister. Of course I treated her differently. She punched me in the shoulder. I stopped walking and took everything in. Camp, my friends, just the fact that I was human again. I took a deep breath. _It's good to be home._

* * *

><p>Thalia stood there for a while just petting Peleus until she heard rustling from the other side of the tree. Her Hunter skills kicking in, she immediately got out her bow and arrow magically because of the blessing of Artemis. A thought occurred to her. <em>Why didn't I get out my bow when the manticore attacked me? <em>Slowly she circled around the tree, her arrow coming face to face with_  
><em>

"Oh my gods. What the hades are you doing out here Jace?" she put down her bow, but at the same time never let her guard down. Last time she was at this tree it had been with the same boy but she had almost died the last time.

He tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a choke. "I come here to relax. It's peaceful here. Well it used to be, until the parts where a manticore almost killed me and now this very deadly girl is pointing her arrow at me."

"Sorry," Thalia apologized. She stared off into the distance. "I guess I haven't been the same since I was attacked. He said a lot of things that got to me. It takes a lot to get to me."

Jace nodded his head as if to say he understands. He felt like he had a connection to this girl. _Should I tell her now? How though? It's kinda creepy if I just go up to her and say, "Hey! A couple hours before you arrived at camp I was dreaming about you. Yeah! I saw you wandering alone in the forest while I was half naked." _Jace observed her face as she stared off into the distance. He could tell that she was one of those girls who always had that strong wall up that blocked anyone for ever getting close to their feelings. He knew because he too, had that wall. He knew that you only have that wall up if you've been hurt before.

"I understand," he said. "That's happened to me before. I had just ran away from home. I had no idea where the hades I was going, but it was better than putting my family in danger. One day while I was at school, I got a call that my house was robbed. I ran straight home and found my mom and my two baby sisters hiding in the corner refusing to se anyone or let anyone touch them. The weird thing was, it was just my room that was trashed. It was then I realized that whoever, or whatever in this case, that got in my house, was looking for me. At that moment I knew that I was a danger to my family and people around me. I ran away that night." He had no idea why he was telling Thalia this, but by the end of his story he was holding back sobs. Thalia sadly looked at Jace and put her hand on his shoulder. "I haven't seen them ever since."

"Wow," Thalia said softly."I wish I was like that. I ran awy cause my mom was a bitch who hated me. And I later figured out that she gave away my brother because of her grudge against my father. But once I got the news that she died, I still felt bad for what I did to her. The way I treated her." Thalia also had no idea why she was just revealing her story to some random person, a guy no less.

They both sat down next to Thalia's tree and just vented for a while. Got to know each other. Slowly, both their walls came down and they were talking like old friends. It had been about 5 hours already when the sun started to come up. Jace saw how tired Thalia was getting so he said they should sleep now. Chiron favoured both of them so he would probably let them sleep in. Surprisingly, Thalia hugged Jace as a goodnight. Right when they came apart, there was a load roar coming from the bottom of the hill. Thalia got out her bow and Jace got out his bracelet.

"Jace. Now's not the time for jewelry." Thalia yelled at him. Jace smirked. He loved it when he got to show off his weapon. The bracelet was made up of two rings. When he twisted the top one, a sword appeared in his hands. Thalia looked at it with admiration. She shrugged off her amazement. "Not bad kid."  
>And with that they both ran down the hill, ready to attack whatever the danger down there was.<p> 


End file.
